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I don’t always make this, but maybe I should. The more I bake my own pizza, the better it gets. This vegan hummus pizza is my pinnacle so far after a considerable number of past versions. If you have a similarly obsessive love for good bread, you understand the sheer joy I got from baking the perfect crust at home. But the story doesn’t end there.

I had discovered, a while ago now, that hummus toasted in panini sandwiches take on a much deeper, richer, more satisfying taste than its original self. The same logic, when applied to pizza, didn’t disappoint. It is a seriously viable and healthier choice instead of cheese. And I would venture to say that it tastes better.

To some, even mention of a vegan pizza sound like heresy. People actually get offended when you don’t like cheese on your pizza. How can you call it a pizza? As with many other dishes: If it feels like a pizza, it is pizza and this one definitely passes that muster with flying colors.

It is not really that cumbersome to make your own pizza at home from scratch. But it has a few subtle points to pay attention to. My detailed recipe is below, right after the heap of helpful pictures and right before a helpful short video. Seriously though, check out the video. It will help.

Note that this is a quick recipe. You don’t need to mess around with overnight doughs or arduous, hours long rise time. Easier yet, feel free to try it with store-bought pizza dough if you are short on time.

Warm up the water (it should still be easy to touch. If too hot, you will kill the yeast and the dough won't rise).

Put the yeast, maple syrup (or sugar) and half of the water in a large glass, stir lightly and keep in a warm place until the yeast starts to foam and rise, about 10 minutes.

Put the flour and the salt in a large bowl and mix them.

Add the yeast mixture, along with the rest of the water, to the bowl. Start combining and kneading with your hand. When the flour and water is more or less combined, add the olive oil.

Knead the dough for about 10 minutes, using folding and pressing motions. The dough should turn out quite soft and stretchy.

Cover the top of the bowl (stretch film works well), wrap the bowl with towels, and keep in a very warm place. Let the dough rise for about 40 minutes. It should at least double in size.

When the dough has risen enough, split it in half (this makes two large pizzas).

Now is a good time to start pre-heating the oven to 500F.

Dust a clean surface with flour and hand-roll the dough into a pizza pie shape. Work from the center outwards so that you get the "pizza handle", i.e. the thicker crust at the rim of the pie and a thin crust where the filling will be. You can use a roller in the beginning if it makes it easier, but try to hand-shape as much as you can. Hopefully at this stage, you are noticing that air bubbles have formed in the dough. That is a good sign that you will have an awesome outcome.

Topping

Dust a pizza peel liberally with flour.

Transfer the crust to the pizza peel and re-shape.

Spread half of the hummus over the crust, sparing the outermost rim.

Add the rest of the toppings (half of them anyway, the remaining is for the second pizza pie) except the parsley. I prefer my parsley fresh so it gets added after the pizza is baked. You can also try fresh arugula.

Baking

The oven needs to be pre-heated to 500F before the pizza gets in there. A hot oven is essential.

Having a pizza stone helps retain the heat and yields much better results. But if you don't have one, you can bake it on a parchment paper dusted with flour.

I’ve noticed that too, the “heresy” if anyone dares say that a pizza without cheese is even a pizza. But clearly those people have never tried a recipe like this before! Hummus on pizza is absolutely delicious, and props to you for calling it a pizza!! 😉

Eeek! Do you deliver 😉 I love hummus pizza, and your toppings are some of my faves! I really need to make my own crust like you do, for some reason that’s one of those things I just never make. But you’ve shown me how easy it is to do, so really no excuse, right?

I glad I found this recipe. I love hummus as a cheese replacement and this recipe will help me make my own dough. May the 20th is pizza party day, Eliza Doolittle day and also my sons birthday so pizza parties will be forever in my future on that day. Thanks for the great recipe.